US President Donald Trump has reiterated his interest in Greenland.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump said he believed the United States would gain control of the autonomous Danish territory.
“I think we’re going to have it and 57,000 people on the island want to be with us,” he said. News from the BBC
Trump’s comments came hours after Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Trump in a phone call that Greenland was not for sale.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said, “I think the people (Greenlanders) want to be with us. I don’t know what Denmark’s demands are, but if they don’t allow that to happen that would be a very hostile act because it (linking Greenland to the United States) is for the security of the free world.
“We’ll have Greenland because it’s about freedom of the world, not the United States, but the reality is that we can give that freedom, they can’t,” he said.
In 2019, Trump first proposed buying Greenland, and he has since considered control of the region “an imperative” for international security.
The prime ministers of Greenland and Denmark have both said the island is not for sale.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Agede said that the use of the region’s land is Greenland’s internal matter. However, he expressed his desire to work more closely with the United States on defense and mineral resources.
Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen has also said that Greenland belongs only to Greenlanders and only indigenous people can determine their future.
Under these circumstances, Trump’s comments have sparked new debates in international politics and raised concerns among Greenlanders.